In the current information age, printing devices such as traditional printers and Multi-Function Products (MFPs) have become extensively used in enterprise and other organization environments. Various computing devices including user terminals may be connected to a printing device, in order to transmit a print job to the printing device.
Conventionally, one way to connect a computing device to a printing device is with the use of a printer cable. As seen in FIG. 1A, a printer cable 13, which may be a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, acts as a simple conduit or data bus that allows two-way communication of electronic information between a terminal 12 and a printing device 15. The printer cable allows the terminal to transmit print data to the printing device, whereby the printing device may perform a print job based on the received print data. Furthermore, the printer cable also allows the printing device to transmit information back to the terminal, such as status information regarding the printing device (device ready, low cartridge ink/toner, etc. . . . ) or status information regarding a print job (completed, pending, canceled, etc. . . . ).
However, the simplicity of conventional printer cables also creates a drawback, in that there are limited security measures available with respect to controlling whether a computing device is able to be connected via the printer cable to a given printing device. For example, it may be desirable to limit the use of a given printing device to only a specific group of users and their corresponding computing devices. However, with a conventional printer cable, any user may easily connect their computing device to the printing device via the printer cable in order to attempt to perform a print job on the printing device.
Furthermore, there is the drawback in that it is difficult to obtain accurate accounting records regarding print jobs that have been performed on a specific printing device. For example, over a period of time a number of different users may connect their computing devices to a printing device with a printer cable in order to perform print jobs. Some of these computing devices (such as a notebook computer belonging to an outside individual visiting an enterprise organization) may rarely be connected to the particular printing device, and some printing devices may not have the capacity to locally store large amounts of print job statistics and billing data. Thus, conventional printer cables make it difficult to obtain a centralized record of print billing and accounting information (such as information regarding which users have printed documents on a printing device, how many pages each user has printed, and so forth).
Moreover, a printer cable is unable to extract or store data being communicated between the terminal and the printer. Thus, a drawback arises when there is an interruption in the transmission of print data from the terminal to the printing device, as a result of a printer cable becoming disconnected from either the terminal or the printing device. In such a situation, the print data may be temporarily lost while being transmitted over the printer cable. Further, even if the connection provided by the printer cable is properly reestablished at a later time, it may be necessary for the terminal to generate and retransmit the print data to the printing device at the later time, thereby causing great inconvenience to the users of the terminal.
Alternatively, another conventional manner in which computing devices are connected to printing devices is with the use of a dedicated printer server. Such print servers are common in enterprise organizations, and allow numerous terminals to be connected simultaneously to numerous printing devices.
With reference to FIG. 1B, a conventional print server 14 is connected to the data network 11, as are terminal 12 and printing device 15. The printer server 14 may receive a print request command from the terminal 12, for performing a print job at the printing device 15. The print server 14 then transmits the print request command, along with any associated print data and print job information, through the network 11 to the printing device 15, and receives data from the printing device 15 in response to the print request command. The print server 15 may then transmit the data returned from the printing device 15 to the terminal 12 as necessary.
There is a drawback, however, in that dedicated print servers are often large and complicated devices, which may be prohibitively expensive for many enterprise organizations. For example, such print servers often need to be maintained and monitored by dedicated Information Technology (IT) professionals.
Furthermore, there is the drawback that a computing device must be connected to a data network infrastructure to which both the print server and the desired printing device are connected, in order for the computing device to be able to transmit the print request and the print data to the desired printing device. This may prove inconvenient, especially if a particular computing device is not often or not easily connected to the data network (such as a notebook computer belonging to an outside individual visiting an enterprise organization).
There exists a need for an improved approach for managing the transmission of print data transmitted between a terminal and a printer, using techniques that are efficient and not as difficult to use (as a practical matter).